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Roddick and Schalken keep sport in perspective
Win or lose their quarter-final showdown, Andy Roddick and Sjeng Schalken know it will not be a matter of life or death.
Win or lose their quarter-final showdown at Wimbledon, Andy Roddick and Sjeng Schalken know it will not be a matter of life or death.
In May during the Rome Masters Roddick helped Dutchman Schalken and his wife Ricky escape across the roof of their hotel to safety after a blaze ripped through it, killing three people.
Schalken, who beat American Vincent Spadea 6-2 7-5 3-6 6-2 in the fourth round on Monday to set up his meeting with Roddick, recounted what happened in chilling detail.
"First of all we (Schalken and his wife) met each other on the roof," he said. "There we were both also helping the elderly people. We had already panicked because we were trapped in our room.
"We had to jump from balcony to balcony to get on the roof of Andy's apartment because we were on the seventh floor and Andy was staying on the sixth floor.
"So when we were finally on the roof of the sixth floor, there we met Andy. Andy helped us jumping down to his balcony where we could see the firemen.
"I think we both kept cool. You have those moments in sport and you have those moments in life. You can see that Andy and me were a little bit cooler because you have those situations also in sport."
Both players agree they will put the frightening episode to the back of their minds when they meet in the last eight.
Roddick beat Alexander Popp of Germany 7-5 6-4 6-4 in the fourth round on Monday.
When reminded of the Rome drama, the American said with his customary humour: "This is a much better position to be in. It's weird how things work.
"Once you get on the court you try to forget about it and I'm sure we'll both be focused on winning a Wimbledon quarter-final."
Schalken also joked: "I hope he's thinking about that a little bit and taking it easy on me. He didn't do that the last three times (he beat me).
"No, we will go out and go for it. Before and after we'll be good friends and on the court we'll try to win."
